Experience versus facts

During my holiday, I visited the rebuild house of Nelson Mandela in the Soweto township just outside Johannesburg. The house was turned into a museum and full with information, awards, factual information, and artefacts in glass vitrines. It was a museum, not a house.

I would have designed the exhibition differently. Mandela's presence is so huge that very few visitors would need the facts about the honorary awards he received. What is interesting of the place is the incredibly small and modest surroundings he used to live in (he tried returning there after his release from prison but the press attention made it difficult for him to stay there).

The best way to design the museum would be a simple replica of the house, including furniture to give an experience what it would have been to live there. People would take time to soak it up and take the impression with them. No facts needed.

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